For Patients

How Safe Are Microwaves?

Microwaves have been in clinical use for over 30 years, and are used globally in the effective treatment of cancer.

One of the first published papers on the use of microwaves in medicine was in 1986 – where researchers from Japan described a method of treating liver tumours. Those techniques have advanced significantly since then, and Emblation – the company behind Swift, is a key technology supplier to the largest medical device company in the world operating in this space. The same fundamental technology that powers Swift, is also being used in the treatment of lung, liver, kidney and breast cancer in countries all over the world.

Non-Ionising Radiation

Microwaves are a form of non-ionising radiation, which means that they can’t cause damage to the DNA of living things. Microwaves sit between radio waves and infrared waves (at any frequency between 300MHz and 300GHz – Swift itself operates at 8GHz) in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Treatments at Low Power

The Swift system delivers very low energy levels when compared with other electromagnetic energy forms. The Swift microwave treatment is only capable of supplying enough energy to agitate water molecules and cause friction, as opposed to damaging DNA, and deliver less energy into the skin than most laser and electrocautery treatments.

Microwaves in everyday life

Aside from the kitchen appliance, microwaves are used in a number of everyday applications. Standard wifi uses microwaves, mobile phones, bluetooth, and cordless phones all use microwaves to send data over short distances. Furthermore, most satellite communications systems (including GPS navigation systems) are also based on the use of microwaves – we interact with microwaves in more ways than we know, every day.